321.8 

H652o 


Patriotism  Through  Education  Series 


No.  8 


The  Outlook  for  Democracy 


Address  by 

Dr.  WILLIAM  H.  HOBBS 

Professor  of  Geology  in  the  University  of  Michigan 


at 

SPEAKERS’  TRAINING  CAMP  FOR  EDUCATION 
IN  PATRIOTIC  SERVICE 


and 


CONFERENCE  OF  ORGANIZATIONS  ENGAGED  IN 

PATRIOTIC  EDUCATION 


Chautauqua,  N.  Y.,  July  7,  1917. 


Issued  by 

NATIONAL  SECURITY  LEAGUE 
31  PINE  STREET 

NEW  YORK  CITY 


UNIVERSITY  OF 
ILLINOIS  LIBRARY 
URBANA-CHAMPAIGN 
BOOKSTACKS 

Ladies  and  Gentlemen  . 

Two  ideals,  as  far  removed  from  each  other  as  the  poles, 
are  today  in  conflict  for  the  mastery  of  the  world.  In  the 
one,  which  is  based  upon  the  ancient  doctrine  of  the  divine 
right  of  kings,  the  individual  is  a  pawn  to  be  moved  about 
and  sacrificed  at  the  will  of  the  controlling  power.  Op¬ 
posed  to  this  autocratic  conception  of  government  is  the 
democratic  ideal  that  all  men  are  created  with  the  inalien¬ 
able  right  through  their  co-operative  efforts  to  control  their 
own  destinies.  The  great  conflict,  which  has  now  been  joined 
for  a  period  of  nearly  three  years,  is  the  outcome  of  a  most 
comprehensive  and  scientifically  organized  plot  by  autocratic 
rulers  to  secure  through  a  series  of  successful  wars  the 
domination  of  the  world. 

Conquerors  have  before  appeared  upon  the  stage,  some 
of  them  equipped  with  the  qualities  necessary  to  accom¬ 
plish  the  subjugation  of  the  world  of  their  day,  and  in  a 
number  of  instances  thev  have  been  able  to  come  within 

j 

measurable  distances  of  their  goal.  Each  has  owed  his 
measure  of  success  in  some  degree  either  to  a  prevalent  su¬ 
perstitious  belief  in  his  invincibility  or  to  the  superior  or¬ 
ganization  and  discipline  of  his  followers,  advantages  which 
have  not  required  a  prolonged  period  for  preparation.  The 
great  advance  of  science  which  has  been  largely  accomplished 
during  the  last  half  century,  has  brought  a  revolution  in  the 
nature  of  warfare  between  nations  and  transformed  it  into 
a  competition  of  complex  engines  and  ingenious  new-found 
inventions  which  are  wrought  out  in  advance,  are  handled  by 
corps  of  highly  trained  technical  experts,  and  are  fed  by 
hoarded  supplies  of  munitions  so  large  as  almost  to  surpass 
belief.  Science  has  thus  unwittingly  placed  a  premium  upon 
dishonesty  of  purpose  and  given  every  advantage  to  the 
predatory  nations.  Unless  warned  in  time  and  forfeited 
through  expensive  preparations,  those  nations  which  are 
peacefully  inclined  are  at  the  mercy  of  their  aggressive  neigh¬ 
bors.  The  predatory  nations  will  therefore  see  to  it  that 
their  own  preparations  are  carried  out  under  disguises  and 

2 


3QI.ST 

HGSQo 

as  secretly  as  possible,  while  they  develop  by  every  means  in 
their  power  the  pacifist  tendencies  which  may  be  either  latent 
or  active  in  those  neighboring  nations  which  it  is  their  pur¬ 
pose  to  attack.  As  between  autocratic  nations,  those  in  a 
backward  position  of  industrial  development  are  under  a 
serious  handicap  which  may  be  insurmountable.  Advance  in 
technical  science  when  combined  with  highly  developed  and 
efficient  organization  of  a  virile  race,  may  offset  great  su¬ 
periority  in  man  power  or  of  personal  courage  and  individ¬ 
ual  skill. 


Studiously  Planned. 

As  in  an  open  book,  the  war  has  now  revealed  to  us 
what  before  was  patent  to  the  fewy  that  the  assault  by  Ger¬ 
many  upon  her  European  neighbors  had  been  studiously 
planned  and  industriously  worked  out  during  more  than  a 
generation,  and  formed  but  a  part  of  that  comprehensive 
scheme  of  conquest  which  had  been  launched  by  Bismarck 
in  1864  with  the  wresting  of  Schleswig-Holstein  from  Den¬ 
mark,  and  had  been  followed  after  the  elimination  of  Austria 
by  the  crushing  defeat  of  France  in  1870  and  the  ruthless 
taking  over  of  Alsace-Lorraine.  The  present  attack  was  to 
have  been  limited  to  France  and  Russia,  and  was  to  have 
been  followed  later  by  wars  aimed  at  England  and  after¬ 
ward  at  the  United  States.  It  is  this  which  explains  the 
outcry  that  was  set  up  in  Germany  when  England  cast  in 
her  lot  with  her  natural  allies  rather  than  wait  for  ‘‘The  Day” 
of  the  inevitable  assault  upon  her  after  France  and  Russia 
had  been  reduced  to  impotence. 

In  most  respects  the  German  plan  seemed  perfect,  and 
the  attention  which  had  been  paid  to  each  detail  is  marked 
by  an  efficiency  which  has  compelled  our  admiration ;  but 
Germany  has  none  the  less  labored  under  one  heavy  handi¬ 
cap.  No  amount  of  industrious  forethought  could  correct 
the  myopia  of  a  mental  vision  which  had  been  constantly 
focussed  upon  intrigue.  From  this  defect  in  her  outlook 
upon  the  future,  the  German  military  caste  has  made  re¬ 
peated  and  fatal  mis  judgments  of  national  and  race  psychol¬ 
ogy.  With  clearer  vision  than  his  followers  and  imitators, 
Bismarck  declared  “we  cannot  foresee  the  cards  held  by 
Providence  so  clearly  as  to  anticipate  historical  development 
through  personal  calculation." 


3 


With  varying  degrees  of  impatience  and  irritation,  we 
have  listened  to  the  most  vociferous  and  persistent  German 
denials,  both  official  and  unofficial,  that  she  has  had  any  part 
either  in  planning  or  in  beginning  this  war.  Standing  upon 
the  balcony  of  the  Royal  Palace  in  Berlin  just  after  he  had 
launched  his  armies  upon  Belgium,  the  German  Kaiser  de¬ 
clared  to  the  immense  throng  assembled  below,  “Envious  na¬ 
tions  on  all  sides  are  forcing  us  to  justified  defense.  They 
are  forcing  the  sword  into  my  hand.  .  .  And  now  I  bid 

you  go  to  church,  bow  down  before  God  and  ask  His  help 
for  our  brave  army.”  In  the  earlier  German  denials,  it  was 
rehearsed  in  chorus  that  France  had  begun  the  war,  that 
French  officers  had  flown  over  Belgium  and  that  bombs  had 
been  thrown  upon  the  Nuremberg  railway  station.  Neither 
statement  was  true,  and  the  Nuremberg  story  was  later  re¬ 
pudiated  by  the  German  who  it  was  claimed  had  made  the 
charge.  Somewhat  later,  Germany’s  charge  of  responsibility 
for  beginning  the  war  was  transferred  to  Russia,  and  event¬ 
ually,  after  the  initial  reverses,  when  efforts  to  obtain  sep¬ 
arate  peace  with  France  and  Russia  were  being  undertaken, 
to  the  shoulders  of  England.  Germans  then  were  asked  to 
pray,  “God  punish  England,”  and  for  composing  the  “Hymn 
of  Hate”  Lissauer  was  awarded  the  Iron  Cross.  Let  us  lis¬ 
ten  to  a  stanza  of  this  hymn  as  it  is  being  publicly  rendered 
by  a  chorus  of  male  voices  to  a  great  audience  assembled  in 
the  Alberthalle  in  Leipsic,  the  composer  accompanying  his 
verses  upon  the  piano  to  music  written  by  the  Director  of 
Church  Music  at  Chemnitz : 

“'French  and  Russian,  they  matter  not, 

A  blow  for  a  blow,  a  shot  for  a  shot, 

We  fight  the  battle  with  bronze  and  steel, 

And  the  time  that  is  coming  peace  will  heal. 

But  you  we  will  hate  with  a  lasting  hate, 

We  will  never  forego  our  hate, 

Hate  by  water  and  hate  by  land, 

Hate  of  the  head  and  hate  of  the  hand, 

Hate  of  the  hammer  and  hate  of  the  crown, 

Hate  of  seventy  millions  choking  down. 

We  love  as  one,  we  hate  as  one, 

j 

We  have  one  foe  and  one  alone. 

England ! 


4 


German  Morals  Bankrupt. 


After  nearly  three  years  of  frightful  war,  at  first  dis¬ 
traught  by  the  new  conditions,  the  world  has  at  length  ac¬ 
quired  such  a  clear  perspective  that  Germany’s  statements  are 
no  longer  taken  at  their  face  value.  Her  credit  for  veracity 
has  fallen  even  lower  than  her  currency.  In  morals,  she  is 
today  a  bankrupt.  The  “inveterate  confidence”  in  her  which 
for  so  long  tied  our  hands  in  this  country  while  the  German 
embassy  at  Washington  was  working  overtime  to  direct  the 
plots  against  our  Government,  has  now  given  place  to  a 
clarity  of  vision  and  to  a  determination  to  make  every  re¬ 
source  available  against  the  common  enemy  of  mankind  that 
must  bring  satisfaction  to  every  loyal  citizen.  In  his  Flag 
Day  address,  President  Wilson  has  given  us  a  trenchant  state¬ 
ment  of  our  case  which  every  American  should  read.  Of 
the  “Military  Masters  of  Germany”  he  says: 

“They  filled  our  unsuspecting  communities  with  vicious 
spies  and  conspirators  and  sought  to  corrupt  the  opinion  of 
our  people  in  their  own  behalf.  When  they  found  they 
could  not  do  that,  their  agents  diligently  spread  sedition 
amongst  us  and  sought  to  draw  our  own  citizens  from  their 
allegiance — and  some  of  these  agents  were  men  connected 
with  the  official  embassy  of  the  German  government  itself 
here  in  our  own  Capitol.  They  sought  by  violence  to  destroy 
our  industry  and  arrest  our  commerce.  They  tried  to  incite 
Mexico  to  take  up  arms  against  us  and  to  draw  Japan  into  a 
hostile  alliance  with  her — and  that  not  by  indirection,  but  by 
direct  suggestion  from  the  Foreign  Office  in  Berlin.  They 
impudently  denied  us  the  use  of  the  high  seas  and  repeat¬ 
edly  executed  their  threats  that  they  would  send  to  their 
death  any  of  our  people  who  ventured  to  approach  the  coasts 
of  Europe.” 

It  might  be  added  that  for  many  years  before  the  war 
Germany  labored  diligently  through  the  medium  of  the  de¬ 
partments  of  German  in  our  American  universities  to  for¬ 
ward  the  Kultur  propaganda,  enjoining  upon  American  citi¬ 
zens  of  German  ancestry  the  continued  use  of  the  German 
language  and  the  retention  of  German  ideals  and  connections. 
In  each  of  our  Middle  Western  state  universities  a  professor 
has  been  the  recognized  state  head  of  this  “missionary  move¬ 
ment.”  As  the  protecting  cloak  of  the  church  has  often  cov¬ 
ered  a  culprit,  so  in  Michigan  the  aegis  of  a  well-known 

5 


patriotic  organization  has  been  extensively  used  to  promote 
the  movement  for  “Deutschland  Ueber  Alles.”  Federal  laws 
to  meet  adequately  the  dangers  of  espionage  and  sedition 
have  been  lacking  in  this  country,  as  was  demonstrated  dur¬ 
ing  the  dynamite  outrages  of  the  first  years  of  war  particu¬ 
larly,  and  I  am  informed  by  one  in  a  position  to  know  that 
bills  which  before  the  war  had  repeatedly  been  introduced 
into  the  National  Congress,  in  order  to  remedy  this  defect, 
were  defeated  in  committee  through  German  influence.  It  is 
only  in  the  last  few  weeks  that  this  legislation  has  at  last 
been  secured. 

The  amount  of  treasure  devoted  by  Germany  to  prepara¬ 
tions  for  her  assault  have  been  little  comprehended  in  this 
country.  I  have  been  told  by  a  well-known  military  expert 
long  resident  in  Berlin,  where  he  was  in  intimate  associa¬ 
tion  with  the  German  Great  General  Staff,  that  at  the  out¬ 
break  of  war  Germany  had  ready  complete  equipment  for  no 
less  than  thirty  millions  of  soldiers.  Highly  trained  officers, 
the  lack  of  which  in  sufficient  numbers  has  proved  such  a 
handicap  to  the  Entente  Allies,  were  available  in  Germany 
not  alone  to  supply  her  own  armies  and  to  replace  the  wast¬ 
age  of  war,  but  sufficient  to  officer  to  a  large  extent  the 
armies  of  Turkey  and  Bulgaria,  and  to  some  extent  also 
those  of  Austro-Hungary. 

The  Kriegsbuch. 

The  unscrupulous  use  of  deception  and  intrigue,  in  com¬ 
bination  with  an  inhuman  barbarity,  is  what  experts  have 
called  “absolute  war."  A  reading  of  the  Kriegsbuch,  or  Offi¬ 
cial  Manual,  prepared  for  the  use  of  officers  of  the  German 
army,  helps  us  to  understand  why  the  German  soldiers  en¬ 
tered  Belgium  supplied  as  a  part  of  their  regular  equipment 
with  ingenious  devices  for  efficient  incendiarism  and  pillage : 

“A  war  conducted  with  energy,”  declares  the  Kriegs¬ 
buch,  “cannot  be  directed  merely  against  combatants  of  the 
enemy  state  and  the  positions  they  occupy,  but  it  will  in 
like  manner  seek  to  destroy  the  total  intellectual  and  mate¬ 
rial  resources  of  the  latter.  .  .  . 

“By  steeping  himself  in  military  history,  an  officer  will 
be  able  to  guard  himself  against  excessive  humanitarian  no¬ 
tions;  it  will  teach  him  that  certain  severities  are  indispens¬ 
able  to  war,  nay  more,  that  the  only  true  humanity  very 
often  lies  in  a  ruthless  application  of  them.” 

6 


To  apply  Nietzsche’s  expression,  “the  blond  beast  lustfully 
roving”  on  its  passage  through  Belgium  obeyed  to  the  letter 
this  course  of  instruction,  reinforced  by  the  Kaiser’s  parting 
injunction  to  the  German  Expeditionary  Force  of  the  Boxer 
Rebellion :  “Let  all  who  fall  into  your  hands  be  at  your 
mercy.  Just  as  the  Huns  a  thousand  years  ago  under  the 
leadership  of  Attila,  gained  a  reputation  in  virtue  of  which 
they  still  live  in  historical  tradition,  so  may  the  name  of  Ger¬ 
many  become  known  in  such  wise  in  China  that  no  China¬ 
man  will  ever  even  dare  to  look  askance  at  a  German.” 

To  influence  public  opinion,  nearly  one  hundred  of  the 
most  distinguished  German  scientists  drew  up  and  signed  a 
declaration  addressed  “to  the  civilized  world,”  in  which, 
among  other  statements,  these  are  given  prominence :  “It  is 
not  true  that  Germany  is  guilty  of  having  caused  this  war. 

.  .  .  It  is  not  true  that  the  life  and  property  of  a  single 

Belgian  citizen  was  injured  by  our  soldiers  without  the  bit¬ 
terest  self-defense  having  made  it  necessary.  ...  It  is 
not  true  that  our  troops  treated  Louvain  brutally.  ...  It 
is  not  true  that  our  warfare  pays  no  respect  to  international 
laws.” 

In  these  false  declarations  by  German  scientists  whose 
names  are  many  of  them  household  words — declarations 
which  have  never  been  withdrawn — German  science  has  met 
the  greatest  downfall  in  her  history,  and  never  before  had 
she  attained  to  so  high  a  position  in  the  world. 

As  we  now  survey  in  all  its  hideous  nakedness  the  Ger¬ 
man  plan  of  conquest,  we  are  surprised  that  the  world  has 
been  so  blind  as  not  to  see  what  is  in  such  clear  light  today. 
It  is,  however,  but  an  illustration  of  the  strong  tendency 
on  the  part  of  our  God-fearing  and  peacefully  inclined  peo¬ 
ple  to  judge  the  motives  of  others  in  accord  with  their  own, 
and  in  their  strongly  developed  optimism  to  believe  that 
only  which  is  pleasant  and  agreeable.  In  France,  the  medi¬ 
tated  attack  by  Germany  was  nearer.  It  had  for  years  hung 
over  the  land  like  a  horrid  nightmare  and  the  blow  was 
awaited  with  a  dread  that  the  crushing  defeat  of  1870  was 
to  be  repeated.  England,  more  under  the  influence  of  the 
professional  pacifist  and  behind  a  moat  of  sea,  responded 
hardly  at  all  when  Earl  Roberts  sounded  the  clarion  call  to 
arms  before  it  should  be  too  late,  and  America  has  long  been 
under  the  spell  of  its  orators  of  pacifism,  notably  Bryan  and 
Jordan. 


7 


Plan  Revealed. 


I  o  one  not  obsessed  by  these  vagaries,  the  impending 
conflict  was  clearly  revealed  in  all  its  main  outlines.  In  or¬ 
der  to  galvanize  the  German  people  for  the  ordeal  which 
was  before  them,  the  German  government  thought  it  well  to 
more  than  hint  that  “world  domination  or  downfall"  spelled 
the  future  of  the  German  Empire.  General  Bernhardi  of 
the  German  General  Staff  brought  out  his  brutally  frank 
“Germany  and  the  Next  War."  which  was  issued  with  every 
encouragement  of  the  government  and  ran  through  numerous 
German  editions.  The  philosophy  of  Nietzsche,  which  glori¬ 
fied  barbaric  war  and  the  savage  superman  and  ridiculed  the 
precepts  of  the  Christian  religion,  was  developed  in  Germany 
as  a  special  cult.  Homer  Lea's  “The  Day  of  the  Saxon,” 
which  in  clear  outlines  set  forth  Germany's  plan  of  conquest 
of  Great  Britain  and  showed  its  entire  feasibility,  was  at 
once  translated  into  German,  and  its  large  sale  was  appar¬ 
ently  fostered  by  the  Imperial  Government. 

Sig.  Giolotti  has  made  public  how  in  1912  the  German 
ambassador  von  Wagenheim  at  Constantinople  confided  to  his 
colleague,  Marquis  Garroni,  the  Italian  ambassador,  the  out¬ 
lines  of  the  German  scheme  of  conquest,  the  Italian  ambas¬ 
sador  being  known  to  be  a  strong  defender  of  the  Triple  Al¬ 
liance.  In  the  same  year,  I  was  myself  in  Budapest  as  the 
guest  of  an  Hungarian  nobleman,  in  consequence  of  having 
been  invited  to  address  the  Hungarian  Geographical  Society. 
My  host,  who  was  in  close  touch  with  his  government  and 
who  has  since  been  killed  in  the  war,  did  not  hesitate  to  in¬ 
form  me  that  as  soon  as  practicable  after  the  conclusion  of 
the  Balkan  war  of  that  year,  Austro-Hungary  would  take 
upon  herself  the  punishment  of  Servia.  My  intimation  that 
such  action  could  hardly  fail  to  ignite  the  European  confla¬ 
gration  was  acknowledged  as  though  it  were  well  understood. 
He  also  gave  me  the  information,  which  I  afterwards  con¬ 
firmed,  that  the  Austrian  army  was  then  largely  mob¬ 
ilized  and  that  two  army  corps  were  operating  upon  the 
French  border  with  the  German  army.  This  mobilization  has 
since  taken  on  the  aspect  of  a  dress  rehearsal  of  the  present 
war,  for  it  will  perhaps  be  remembered  that  two  Austrian 
army  corps,  and  only  two.  took  part  in  the  early  operations 
on  the  Western  battle  front. 

If  I  have  made  clear  that  the  present  war  is  the  result 
of  a  premeditated  attack  by  the  German  government  upon 

8 


her  European  neighbors  and  was  planned  as  part  of  an  even 
larger  scheme  of  conquest,  to  what  extent  were  the  German 
people  responsible  for  this  supreme  crime  of  history?  This 
question  is  vital  and  is  difficult  to  answer  by  one  not  famil¬ 
iar  with  the  conditions  of  German  life  and  with  the  absolute 
monarchy  which  there  lurks  behind  the  framework  of  popu¬ 
lar  government.  In  1888-9,  a  student  at  a  German  university 
and  a  frequent  visitor  since  that  time,  I  have  been  much  im¬ 
pressed,  as  every  traveller  must  be,  by  the  submissive  attitude 
of  the  German  people  and  the  absolute  obedience  to  the  last 
letter  of  the  law  which  is  continually  exacted  from  them. 
The  form  of  government,  which  the  scheme  of  Bismarck  pro¬ 
vided  for  Germany,  permitted  a  limited  amount  of  criticism 
and  such  social  legislation  as  was  not  too  offensive  to  the  Im¬ 
perial  Government,  but  no  responsible  ministry  and  a  parlia¬ 
ment  over  which  the  Kaiser  exercises  an  absolute  veto.  As 
is  well  known,  Bismarck  ruled  Prussia  for  four  years  with¬ 
out  a  parliament,  and  the  Government’s  treatment  of  the 
resolution  of  the  Reichstag  following  the  notorious  Zabern 
scandal  shows  that  such  a  suspension  of  parliamentary  gov¬ 
ernment  might  easily  arise  in  Germany.  As  the  Kaiser  has 
bluntly  expressed  it,  ‘‘The  soldier  and  the  army  and  not  Par¬ 
liamentary  majorities  and  resolutions  have  welded  together 
the  German  Empire."  And,  “Regarding  myself  as  the  tool  of 
God,  and  without  consideration  of  the  notions  and  opinions 
of  the  day,  I  go  my  way.”  Submission  to  authority  has  thus 
become  the  alpha  and  omega  of  existence  throughout  the 
German  Empire. 


The  Task  Ahead. 

If  democracy  is  not  to  perish  from  the  earth,  it  is  clear 
that  we  must  bend  every  effort  to  defeat  decisively  the  auto¬ 
crats  in  government  now~  leagued  together  as  the  Central 
Powers  and  absolutely  dominated  by  Germany.  How  sorely 
this  will  tax  our  courage  and  our  resources  we  as  yet  hardly 
realize.  Every  long  war  has  passed  through  the  three  suc¬ 
cessive  stages  of  the  onset ,  the  grip  and  the  drag.  Where 
there  is  great  superiority  of  available  military  power  massed 
upon  one  side,  the  decision  has  sometimes  been  reached  in 
the  onset,  as  in  the  Austro-Prussian  War  of  1866.  We  have 
reason  to  believe  that  Germany  expected  to  crush  France  in 
this  initial  phase,  but,  after  the  German  armies  had  recoiled 
from  the  Marne  and  from  before  Calais,  the  grip  of  war 

9 


may  be  said  to  have  begun,  when  Russia  and  France,  and 
later  Britain  and  Italy,  brought  their  full  forces  into  action. 
Those  forces  have  now  reached  their  maximum,  and  the  try¬ 
ing  test  of  endurance  which  constitutes  the  drag  of  war  is 
already  upon  us.  The  war  will  be  decided  in  favor  of  the 
group  of  powers  which  can  longest  supply  the  sinews  of  war 
— the  money,  munitions  and  men.  Of  the  first,  we  have 
already  made  a  large  contribution  and  are  prepared  to  follow 
it  by  others ;  of  munitions  our  contribution  has  been  consider¬ 
able,  and  of  men  it  is  as  yet  altogether  insignificant. 

Our  first  effective  assistance  to  our  allies,  if  we  except 
our  loans  of  money,  has  been  made  through  our  navy,  sev¬ 
eral  sections  of  modern  destroyers  being  already  in  opera¬ 
tion  against  submarines  in  British  waters.  For  all  that  the 
public  may  know,  a  squadron  of  our  modern  dreadnoughts 
may  already  be  in  a  strategic  position  in  support  of  the  plans 
of  the  British  Admiralty.  Our  base  hospitals  and  ambulance 
corps  are  beginning  to  make  their  appearance  in  Europe  to 
relieve  the  great  strain  upon  those  of  our  allies,  and  our 
taking  over  of  the  contracts  for  neutral  ships  under  construc¬ 
tion  in  American  yards,  in  connection  with  the  embargo 
placed  upon  food  products,  together  constitute  the  first  really 
effective  blockade  of  Germany. 

Our  greatest  early  opportunity  to  render  efficient  military 
aid  at  the  battle  front,  must,  however,  be  a  supply  of  aero¬ 
plane  squadrons,  since  these  can  be  more  quickly  improvised 
by  a  nation  which  leads  the  world  in  the  manufacture  of 
automobiles,  and  whose  citizens  are  by  temperament  espe¬ 
cially  fitted  for  supreme  demands  upon  individual  initiative 
and  resourcefulness.  Mr.  Howard  Coffin,  a  graduate  of  the 
University  of  Michigan,  and  Detroit’s  distinguished  represen¬ 
tative  upon  the  Advisory  Board  to  the  National  Defense 
Council,  has  outlined  plans  to  have  the  government  furnish  a 
thousand  flyers  a  month  with  the  first  contingent  ready  to 
depart  in  September.  Our  early  entry  into  the  war  in  the 
field  of  aviation  may  contribute  both  to  reduce  the  submarine 
menace  and  to  effectually  blind  the  enemy  in  his  land  opera¬ 
tions  at  the  battle  front.  Upon  the  authority  of  Mr.  Coffin, 
it  is  further  the  purpose  of  our  government  to  supply 
American  railway  engineers  in  sufficient  numbers  to  take 
over  the  operation  of  the  French  railways  and  so,  in  some 
measure,  to  relieve  the  terrible  strain  upon  our  sister  republic. 
Ten  thousand  railway  engineers  are  already  in  uniform  and 


10 


will  be  sent  to  France  at  the  earliest  opportunity.  The 
Trans-Siberian  Railway,  the  great  artery  for  supplying  the 
Russian  armies,  now  clogged  and  incapable  of  moving  the 
mountains  of  munitions  which  have  accumulated  at  Vladivos- 
tock,  is  likewise  to  be  operated  by  American  engineers  as  an 
American  railway  at  the  earliest  possible  moment.  The  na¬ 
tion  may  well  take  heart  when  men  like  Mr.  Coffin  and  those 
associated  with  him  in  the  Advisory  Board  to  the  Council  of 
National  Defense  are  giving  up  their  entire  time  in  a  devoted 
effort  to  achieve  the  utmost  in  this  supreme  crisis. 

Though  our  assistance  in  other  fields  cannot  be  made  im¬ 
mediately  available,  it  must  none  the  less  be  most  vigorously 
pushed  in  order  to  become  available  at  all.  Here,  the  ship¬ 
building  emergency  stands  first  in  importance  and  the  food 
supply  second ;  since  not  only  food,  but  coal,  steel,  and  oil, 
must  be  supplied  to  our  allies  at  the  earliest  moment,  and 
the  movement  of  troops  will  eventually  require  the  continu¬ 
ous  use  of  an  immense  fleet  of  transports.  Those  who  have 
followed  carefully  the  shipping  situation  in  this  country  have 
not  been  deceived  by  the  controversy  which  has  arisen,  and 
they  must  be  fully  aware  that  in  the  plan  of  General  Goe- 
thals  both  wooden  and  steel  ships  are  to  be  built  to  the  full 
capacity  of  the  country. 

The  Food  Problem. 

We  have  upon  us  now  the  heavy  burden  of  feeding,  not 
only  ourselves,  but  in  large  measure  the  Western  European 
nations  as  well.  Here,  patriotism  counsels  that  we  should  not 
even  consider  the  profits  to  ourselves,  but  should  put  forth 
our  utmost  efforts  so  as  to  increase  to  the  limit  the  world’s 
supply  of  food.  The  best  that  we  can  do  will  be  all  too  lit¬ 
tle,  and  if  the  government  is  able  to  manage  the  problem  of 
transportation,  as  it  must,  it  need  not  be  feared  that  prices 
will  anywhere  fall  below  the  normal.  There  is  every  reason 
to  suppose  that  they  will  soar  even  higher. 

There  is  evidence  that  under  cover  of  supposed  war  con¬ 
ditions,  unscrupulous  persons  have  succeeded  in  establishing 
artificial  prices  for  some  of  the  necessities  of  life.  It  is 
therefore  imperative  that  the  government,  with  the  least  pos¬ 
sible  delay,  assume  control  of  market  conditions  upon  the 
basis  of  thorough  investigation  and  with  the  exercise  of 
somewhat  arbitrary  powers.  Let  us  not  make  the  mistake 

11 


of  England  in  assuming  that  the  war  is  to  be  quickly  ended, 
and  in  delaying  to  take  as  war  measures  only  such  drastic 
action  as  alone  can  avert  disaster.  Let  us  echo  the  slogan 
that  no  one  is  to  make  profits  out  of  the  war. 

Not  only  must  we  increase  production,  but  we  must  con¬ 
serve  supply  through  prevention  of  waste.  It  has  been  said, 
I  think  correctly,  that  the  average  French  family  can  live  on 
what  the  average  American  family  habitually  wastes.  Much 
of  the  waste  of  our  hotel  and  other  public  dining-rooms  is 
due  largely  to  false  standards  which  have  grown  up  and  be¬ 
come  fixed  by  habit.  A  well-known  millionaire  merchant  has 
recently  voiced  his  protest  against  some  of  the  glaring  ex¬ 
travagances  of  our  more  expensive  hostelries.  The  Delaware, 
Lackawanna  &  Western  Railroad  has  now  for  some  time 
served  smaller  and  so-called  “war  portions”  of  food  in  its 
dining  cars.  May  other  roads  follow  this  excellent  example. 

The  above  are  some  of  the  steps  which  we  must  take, 
some  of  which  our  government  has  already  wisely  taken,  in 
order  to  come  to  the  aid  of  our  allies.  The  chief  menaces  to 
the  cause  of  democracy  today,  as  a  result  of  the  war,  are  the 
submarine  and  the  unsettled  condition  of  Russia.  The  for¬ 
mer  we  must  endeavor  to  meet  both  by  destroying  the  sub¬ 
marines  themselves  and  by  building  ships  so  rapidly  that,  even 
if  our  attempts  to  overcome  the  submarine  should  be  but 
partially  successful,  we  may  still  be  able  to  convey  the  neces¬ 
sary  supplies  to  England,  France  and  Italy. 

As  regards  Russia,  she  appears  now  to  have  passed 
through  the  most  dangerous  stage  of  her  revolution,  in  that 
the  immediate  menace  of  a  separate  peace  has  been  removed. 
I  am  basing  my  judgment  in  part  only  upon  the  censorized 
reports  from  Petrograd,  but  far  more  upon  the  bitter  disap¬ 
pointment  which  is  now  clearly  reflected  in  the  German  press 
No  one  who  has  traveled  in  Russia  can  have  overlooked  the 
fact  that  the  nation  is  essentially  agricultural  and  that  sol¬ 
diers  are  mainly  drawn  from  the  peasant  class.  The  indus¬ 
trial  classes,  which  are  now  joyriding  with  liberty  and  have 
been  skilfully  deluded  by  Germany’s  agents,  form  but  a  rela¬ 
tively  small  section  of  the  people,  and  their  localization  in 
and  about  the  centre  of  government  has  accounted  for  the 
important  role  which  they  have  thus  far  been  able  to  play. 
This  importance  has  steadily  declined  as  the  voice  of  the 
great  Russian  peasantry  has  become  articulate.  The  peasants 
and  the  soldiers,  as  well  as  the  responsible  business  men,  are 


12 


now  united  for  a  continuation  of  the  war,  and  the  early 
stages  of  the  new  government  having  now  been  passed,  one 
may  survey  the  future  with  less  of  apprehension.  The  ad¬ 
mirable  message  to  Russia  of  President  Wilson,  the  arrival 
of  the  Root  and  the  Stevens  Commissions,  and  the  consider¬ 
able  leaven  of  Russians,  educated  in  self-government,  who  are 
now  returning  to  their  former  homes  from  this  country,  must 
all  weigh  heavily  in  the  balance  on  the  side  of  a  stable  gov¬ 
ernment.  The  successful  drive  in  Galacia,  led  personally  by 
that  great  War  Minister,  Kerensky,  assures  us  that  the  repub¬ 
lican  army  is  really  to  play  a  role  in  the  campaign,  even  of 
the  present  season. 


Pitfalls  in  the  Path. 

There  are  pitfalls  in  the  path  of  democracy  against 
which  it  is  necessary  continually  to  guard,  pitfalls  which  have 
been  dug,  or  will  be  in  the  future,  through  the  machinations 
of  the  German  autocracy.  Most  dangerous  among  these  are, 
first,  the  allurements  of  the  outwardly  humanitarian  idea  of  a 
‘‘peace  without  victory,”  and,  second,  the  powers  which  may 
be  in  hiding  behind  any  future  overturn  of  the  German  gov¬ 
ernment.  The  danger  of  the  former  is  less  than  it  was,  now 
that  the  world  has  been  the  spectator  of  a  futile  demonstra¬ 
tion  in  which  the  American  government  for  the  time  played 
the  hand  of  Germany  and  echoed  her  cries  for  a  “peace  with¬ 
out  victory”  and  “freedom  of  the  seas.” 

It  should  be  sufficient  for  us  to  remember  that  a  century 
ago,  when  the  world  was,  as  now,  in  arms  against  an  auto¬ 
cratic  scheme  for  military  conquest,  a  “peace  without  vic¬ 
tory”  was  duly  signed  with  Napoleon  at  Amiens,  which 
proved  to  be  for  him  a  convenient  breathing  spell,  and  that 
the  war  was  resumed  after  little  more  than  a  year  of  peace, 
so  that  he  rose  at  that  time  to  his  greatest  power,  and  it  was 
only  twelve  years  later  that  he  was  decisively  defeated  upon 
the  field  of  Waterloo. 

We  are  in  danger  of  focusing  our  attention  too  much 
upon  the  hardships  of  Germany  and  to  the  evidences  of  dis¬ 
content  among  her  people,  in  the  vain  hope  that  she  will 
soon  be  compelled  to  sue  for  peace.  While  it  is  easy  to  be¬ 
lieve  that  she  is  already  in  great  distress,  it  is  only  neces¬ 
sary  to  reflect  upon  the  huge  penalties  which  must  inevitably 
be  exacted  from  her  for  her  wild  riot  of  destruction,  to  be 
convinced  that  she  will  continue  the  fight  to  the  last  extrem- 

13 


ity.  Her  people  have  been  fed  so  largely  upon  reports  of 
victories,  “retreats  to  victory,”  and  upon  the  invincibility  of 
Hindenburg  and  the  Kaiser  that  they  are  likely  to  be  even 
now  far  removed  from  a  correct  understanding  of  the  real 
state  of  affairs.  Then,  too,  the  security  which  the  German 
government  has  offered  for  the  many  loans  to  finance  the 
war  is  now  nothing  more  than  the  hope  of  indemnity  to  be 
exacted  from  Germany’s  enemies.  With  her  foreign  com¬ 
merce  on  which  she  is  so  dependent  already  taken  from  her, 
with  foreign  nations  more  and  more  independent  of  her  ex¬ 
ports  and  leagued  together  for  mutual  trade  relations  after 
the  war,  with  a  large  proportion  of  her  merchant  fleet  either 
destroyed  or  seized  and  operated  by  the  allies,  the  govern¬ 
ment  can  still  lead  the  people  to  continue  the  war  in  a  last 
desperate  hope  that  the  tide  will  yet  turn  in  their  favor. 

However  strong  may  be  the  demand  for  peace  at  what¬ 
ever  price,  the  German  government  cannot  be  forced  to  yield 
to  the  popular  demands  so  long  as  the  army  remains  unaf¬ 
fected,  for  the  German  army,  as  the  Kaiser  has  told  us,  is 
the  bulwark  of  his  Empire.  When  such  disaffection  becomes 
serious,  as  at  some  time  it  must,  the  military  caste  will  play 
its  last  desperate  card  and  stage  an  overturn  to  a  popular 
government  which  can  still  be  controlled  from  behind  the 
scenes. 


Peace  Guarantees. 

Whether  such  a  stroke  can  be  driven  home  is  for  the 
future  to  determine,  but  the  allied  governments  cannot  afford 
to  conclude  a  peace  without  guarantees  of  a  practical  nature 
that  the  terms  of  the  surrender  will  be  rigorously  adhered  to. 
More  than  once  in  the  history  of  the  Hohenzollerns  (as  of 
the  Hapsburgs)  solemn  treaties  have  been  shown  to  be  in 
their  estimation  only  “scraps  of  paper”  to  be  torn  up  under 
the  urgency  of  military  necessity  or  even  of  personal  con¬ 
venience.  As  Frederick  William  IV  is  said  to  have  remarked 
in  1847,  when  repudiating  his  pledge  to  grant  a  parliament 
to  the  Prussian  people,  “I  will  never  let  a  sheet  of  written 
paper  come  between  our  Lord  God  in  Heaven  and  our  coun¬ 
try,  to  rule  us  with  its  paragraphs  and  to  put  them  in  the 
place  of  ancient  loyalty.” 

There  is  now  little  merit  in  our  saying  that,  had  we 
earlier  entered  upon  our  duties  in  this  great  struggle,  the 
outlook  for  democracy  must  have  been  far  brighter  than  it  is. 

14 


/ 


The  fact  is  that  we  have  but  just  come  in,  and  it  is  for  us 
to  so  play  our  part  that  we  may  redeem  the  past  in  so  far  as 
that  is  now  possible.  Even  now,  the  country  is  not  fully 
awake  to  the  situation,  but,  thank  God,  it  is  rapidly  awaken¬ 
ing.  It  is  my  firm  conviction  that,  once  thoroughly  aroused, 
America  will  do  honor  to  her  noblest  traditions  and  will  pa¬ 
tiently  undergo  even  the  greatest  sacrifices ;  for  whether  dem¬ 
ocracy  or  autocracy  is  to  win,  it  is  now  for  us  to  determine. 

Can  we  descry  upon  the  horizon  a  permanent  peace 
such  as  we  all  earnestly  long  for,  and  which  we  will  yearn 
after  with  ever-increasing  longings  as  the  weary  months  and 
probably  years  of  war  drag  on?  We  should  be  honest  with 
ourselves  and  admit  that  belief  in  such  a  happy  outcome,  if 
we  entertain  it,  is  nothing  more  substantial  than  the  visualiz¬ 
ing  of  our  hopes,  and  that  neither  history  nor  sound  logic 
supplies  any  warrant  for  such  faith.  Let  us  not  deceive  our¬ 
selves,  but  rather,  taking  counsel  from  past  disappointments, 
let  us  see  to  it  that  the  future  is  made  safe  for  democracy 
through  such  permanent  military  preparations  as  will  permit 
us  again  to  devote  ourselves  to  the  arts  of  peace  while  ever 
ready  to  play  in  the  world  that  noble  part  of  which  our  past 
record  has  supplied  the  promise. 


15 


UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS-URBANA 


3  01 


1 2  09901 4372 


THE  NATIONAL  SECURITY  LEAGUE 


is  a  non-political,  non-partisan  league  of  American  men  and  women 
who  are  earnestly  working  to  secure  adequate  national  defense  from 

Congress.  THE  LEAGUE  IS  ALSO  DOING  AN  EFFECTIVE  WORK 
IN  PROMOTING  PATRIOTIC  EDUCATION  AND  UNIVERSAL 
MILITARY  TRAINING  AND  SERVICE. 


Honorary  President — Joseph  H.  Choate,  New  York. 

[Note — Mr.  Choate  occupied  the  position  of  Honorary  President  from  the  date  of  the 
organization  of  the  League  until  his  death,  May  14,  1917.] 

Honorary  Vice-President—  Alton  B.  Parker,  New  York. 
Presidents.  Stan  wood  Menken,  New  York. 

Vice-Presidents — George  Wharton  Pepper,  Philadelphia. 

George  von  L.  Meyer,  Boston. 

Willet  M.  Spooner,  Milwaukee. 

Luke  E.  Wright,  Memphis. 

Frederic  L.  Huidekoper,  Washington. 
Franklin  Q.  Brown,  New  York. 

Secretary — Herbert  Barry,  New  York. 

Treasurer — Edward  H.  Clark,  New  York. 

Chairman,  Board  of  Directors— Charles  E.  Lydecker,  New  York. 
Chairman ,  Finance  Committee — Franklin  Q.  Brown,  New  York. 
Executive  Secretary— Henry  L.  WEST,  Washington. 


The  National  Security  League  is  supported  by 
small  contributions  of  the  public.  It  is  not  endowed 
and  finds  that  the  work  of  raising  sufficient  funds 
for  the  distribution  of  its  literature  is  a  matter  of 
most  serious  difficulty. 

All  those  who  believe  in  forwarding  its  work 
are  earnestly  urged  to  support  it  and  aid  in  secur¬ 
ing  new  members. 


